Today was a full day in the park. While our main focus was elephants in the elephant rich park, we were also treated two leopards and simply wonderful elephants, with many of them being up close and personal. Biggest treat was photographing them as they were leaving the swamp. Everyone is very happy and excited for our journey tomorrow as we move across the highlands and onward to the Ngorongoro Crater.

As we started our move from move from Robanda to Mbaligiti, we found ourselves directly in the middle of one of the main herds of migrating Wildebeests. This time of the year (May), they are on their way from the calving grounds of the Southern Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area to the northern Serengeti and then onward to Kenya – only to return again in September and October when the rains begin.

So here is my very first video from my D4 (I have have the camera since it came out, I just don’t shoot video and now I am having second thoughts). I really like having the massive elephants in the background – just wish I have figured out the video focusing a bit faster.

Then there was this little elephant who just figured out that if he trumpeted and charged into the herd of Wildebeests, he could get an reaction from them, causing them to run. Every safari, I always observe some type of animal behavior that I have not seen before. What fun……

Elephants are one of my most favorite animals to photograph in Africa. I think it is a combination of their sheer size, their sense of family, and the efforts that they go to in protection their young. More importantly is the needless killing over poaching for their ivory. With an estimated killing of more than 30 elephants per day (1), one has to wonder just how much longer we will be able to view these magnificent animals (2). With an estimated population of 70 – 80,000 free roaming elephants in Tanzaina, the government of Tanzaina is stepping up their efforts in combating poaching.

In the image below, a mother is protecting her exhausted calve after the young one finished playing near the side of the Tarangire River. Almost always, the mother places herself in front of the her young, often with only the shape of the young ones partially visible to photograph. I consider myself lucky to have captured this image.

Looking forward to 2015:Namibia – Landscapes of a Lifetime – April or May 2015- Details will be released in March of 2014.Tanzania – The Great RutTanzania – Fall MigrationBotswana – Adventure on the RiverLots More to Come So Stay Tuned.

*Adventure Series – Open only to previous clients and those who are willing to travel in conditions that require maximum flexibility as we explore new areas.

Tortillis means dust in Maasai, and during our visit we certainly had no shortage of dust. It was at Tortillis that I saw and photographed my first mirage. Mirages are tricks of the atmosphere, optical illusions caused when a layer of air next to the ground becomes superheated from heat stored in the soil or in dark pavement. The boundary between this hot – and therefore less dense – air and the cooler, denser air above it bends the light rays that strike it, acting like a giant mirror or lens held parallel to the ground. Water mirages paint lakes across parched desert sands, deluding desert travelers. Having traveled the dry beds of Tortillis, I would hate to find myself in a situation where I was mentally incapable of recognizing the mirage for what it is. Looking at the image below, you can see the “lake reflection” or mirage just below the horizon. Trust me, there is no water out there!

Tortillis Dust Bowl and Mirage

Nikon D3s, 70-200 mm f2.8, ISO 200, f/10 at 1/320 sec

Returning from swamps of Tortillis National Park, a small head of elephants make their way across the dry lake bed toward the forests of Tanzania.